Knitting machine and method



Sept. 19, 1961 M. H. FELKER KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 12, 1959 l IHFIIHII H 5 HI "W W [I II ll FIG.

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INVENTOR. H. KER FIG. 3 MAURICE FEL M 62 so ATTORNEYS Sept. 19, 1961 M. H. FELKER 3,000,199

KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Filed March 12, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. MAURICE H. FELKER fihiabm ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,000,199 KNITTING MACHINE AND METHOD Maurice H. Felker, Lakeport, N.H., assignor to Scott & Williams, Incorporated, Laconia, N.H., a corporation of Massachusetts Filed Mar. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 7 98,903 8 Claims. (CI. 6693) This invention relates to knitting machines and methods for the production of pile fabrics for rugs, upholstery, imitation fur, etc.

Recently it has been found that rug and similar fabrics having closely spaced pile loops of a wide variety of lengths could be made on circular knitting machines which may produce a base fabric and heavy pile loops in the same operation. Since this method requires the use of only a pile yarn and a restraining yarn at each knitting station of a multifeed machine, the yarn supplies have been reduced to a minimum. As the knitted material drapes easily, it may be more readily used as upholstery fabric than that made by tufting in a woven base. Also, if the pile loops are sheared or properly torn and treated, plush or simulated fur will result.

The method involved in the foregoing comprises feeding the pile loop yarn high and a relatively light but strong restraining or base yarn low to cylinder needles, so that jacks may be moved radially outward from a dial between the two yarns. As the needles are lowered to knit they draw long pile loops over the jacks, while the restraining yarn is taken in the usual manner and knit to form essentially normal stitches of the combined yarns.

It will be understood that Without the restraining yarn there would be no means to prevent adjacent needle wales in the fabric from separating to the extent permitted by the long pile loops. It is therefore desirable to use the lightest possible restraining yarn that has sufficient strength to satisfactorily prevent separation of the needle wales, in order that when knit with the relatively heavy pile yarn the base fabric may be of minimum weight. By reason of the inclusion of both yarns in stitches formed at each feed the pile loops are securely anchored, and even if broken, their end portions are locked into the fabric.

In drawing the loops of abnormal length, the heavy pile yarn is necessarily engaged by several adjacent needles and reeved over nearly as many dial jacks, thus creating suflicient friction to prevent its free movement, and it is therefore under such extreme tension that at times the completion of stitches becomes quite difficult, imposing great stresses on the needles.

It has been found that the above-mentioned difficulty may be avoided by elevating the jacks over which the pile yarn passes while the needles are being lowered to draw, measure and hold the pile loops, and then lowering the jacks as the stitches are finally drawn to provide suflicient yarn, free of excessive tension, for their proper formation. The fashion in which this is accomplished will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation showing a knitting section of a circular knitting machine with the cam ring broken away to expose the cams and needle path;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional plan view of the dial with the cap removed to show the cams and loop jack path, as seen from above;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated at 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a radial section taken on the plane indicated at 44 in FIGURES l and 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a radial section taken on the plane indicated at 5-5 in FIGURES 1 and 2.

3,000,199 Patented Sept. 19, 1961 The basic circular, latch needle knitting machine desirably used for carrying out the invention is generally known as a rib body machine, and is multifeed and of large diameter. The cams in this machine rotate while the dial and needle cylinder remain stationary. This basic machine may be of the type disclosed in Swinglehurst Patent 1,115,128, dated October 27, 1914. Only so much of he machine is shown as will be necessary to understand the invention, and this only at one knitting station. However, the number of such stations or feeds is limited only by the space provided by the circumference of the needle cylinder. In accordance with the invention this basic machine is modified by substituting jacks for the dial needles, suitable cams being provided for operation of the jacks.

It will become apparent that the method could also be carried out on a machine in which the needle cylinder and jack dial revolved while the cams remained stationary and that the needles might be in the dial while the loopforming jacks are in the cylinder.

Referring to FIGURE 1, the cam ring 2 rotates from left to right and carries the needle lowering cam 4, the stitch cam 6 and the clearing cam 8 which, through butts 41 on the needles, raise and lower needles 40 mounted to slide in vertical slots of the needle cylinder 42. Also carried by the cam ring is a bracket 16 adjustably held by screw 26. A yarn guide 10 is fixed to a post 24 which is adjustably held in bracket 16 by set screw 25 and carries a bracket 12 carrying eyes 30 and 32 through which pass, respectively, the restraining yarn R, of nylon, for example, and the pile loop yarn P. A yarn finger 14, having an eye 15 through which the restraining yarn R is guided to the needles, is adjustably held in stud 18 by a set screw 22 and the stud 18 is mounted for adjustment in bracket 16, being locked in position by a nut 20. The pile yarn P is fed through an opening 28 in guide 10. A post 38 is also mounted on the cam ring 2 and carries a pile loop presser blade 34 which is secured for adjustment by screw 36.

Referring now to FIGURES 2, 4 and 5, the pile loop jacks 46 are mounted to slide and rock in radial slots 48 of the dial 44, these being the slots ordinarily used for dial needles in knitting rib fabric. Jack cams 50, 52 and 56 are fixed to the underside of the jack dial cap 64 to rotate in unison with the cam ring 2. The cam surface 58, through butts 66 of the jacks, serves to move the jacks 46 out to receive the pile loop yarn over their extensions 68, which are projected between the needles, while the angular surface 60 formed on the under side of cam 56 causes the jacks to rock on their fulcrums 70 provided by the intersection of two straight lower edges of the jacks, to elevate extensions 68. Cam 62 is essentially the reverse of cam 60 and its purpose is to prevent the jacks from moving suddenly and thereby losing control of their loops as the yarn is drawn by the needles to form stitches. The cam 60 is desirably sloped nonradially so as to engage a jack first adjacent to the butt 66 and then progressively towards its inner end, thereby minimizing tilting stresses in a circumferential direction to portions of jacks projecting upwardly out of the dial slots.

In FIGURES 4 and 5 there is shown the knitted base fabric 71 formed of stitches 72, composed of the light restraining yarn R and the heavy pile yarn P, while the long pile loops of yarn P are shown collectively at 74.

While not shown, sufficient tension may be applied to the fabric to move the finished stitches from the needles by one of the well-known fabric takeups, and it will be understood, by those skilled in the art, that conventional sinkers may be used, if desired, to cast the stitches from the needles, thereby eliminating completely or greatly reducing the tension on the completed fabric imposed by the fabric takeup.

A cycle of drawing the long pile loops ofheavy yarn and the subsequent formation of stitches, composed of the heavy yarn and the light strong restraining yarn, at

one knitting station or feed will be described as if the jacks and needles were moving from right to left in relation to the cams as seen in FIGURES l and 2, and, while not shown, it will be assumed the yarns P and R lead from supply packages mounted above the knitting hea in conventional fashion.

Yam P passes through eye 32 and then through the guide eye 28 to the needles as they are being lowered by cam 4, the yarn being high enough to permit the jack extensions 68 to pass safely beneath it as the jacks 46 are moved radially outward by the action of cam 58 on their butts 66, while yarn R passes through eye 30 to the eye 15 which guides it well below the jack extensions and directly to the needles as they approach the bottom of cam 4. Shortly after the jacks are moved fully out by cam 58 they engage cam 60 which, by depressing their tails 47, elevates their extensions 68 to contact the yarn P extending between the books of the flanking needles. Since the needles are descending beneath cam 4 at the same time as the jack extensions are rising, the long pile loops are completely formed by approximately onehalf the number of needles and jacks that would be required if the jacks did not rock and had to be set to slide at the highest position of the jack extensions. Due to the few needles and rocking jacks that cooperate with them in measuring the pile yarn, strain on the yarn, due to reeving under the needle hooks and over the jack extensions, is reduced to such an extent that it is possible to form longer loops than if they were drawn over nonrocking jacks.

After the needles and jacks assume the positions shown in FIGURE 4 with the loops 74 completely drawn, they hold the loops until their corresponding needles reach the stitch cam 6 and, as the needles are being lowered to form stitches, the jack extensions, due to the relief angle of cam 62, are permitted to move downward, thus providing the necessary pile loop yarn P without imposing excessive tension thereon. The light restraining yarn R leads from eye 15 to the needle hook-s but since the needles do not shed their loops 72 until they pass down the stitch cam, the yarn is permitted to pass freely from the supply to combine with the heavy yarn P in the final stitch loop. It will be seen that since yarn R is drawn only over the upper edge 73 of the needle cylinder walls, adjacent stitches are connected coursewise by relatively short bars of the light but strong restraining yarn, resulting in a base fabric of normal construction determining to a major extent the number of loops per unit extent of the fabric both coursewise and walewise.

Due to the relatively heavy yarn being knitted some tension is created in the stitches themselves and the relief 7 on the bottom of stitch cam. 6 is provided to permit a slight rise of the needles and a reduction of stitch tension.

When the jacks reach surface 54 of cam 52 they are withdrawn to their inactive position shown in FIGURE with the'stitches 72 released from the needles. As the completed pile loops pass the presser blade 34 they are swept inward to assume a position where they may not later be caught by the needles as they rise on clearing cam 8 to complete the cycle.

It will be evident from the foregoing that the tilting of the jacks has two important functions: first, as their extensions 68 rise and the needles are lowered they'aife'ct measurement of the pile yarn P quickly, i.e. in the sense of completion of the measuring during the extent of relative movement of only a few needles with respect to the yarn feeding means; thus minimizing the number of surfaces over which reeving must occur; and secondly, as their extensions 63 drop concurrently with the formation of the stitch loops by the needles, they prevent undue yarn tension, though maintaining necessary tension on the pile yarn loops, with complete control thereof until the stitches are fully drawn.

As noted above, the'parts may be reversed, with the needles in the dial and the jacks in the cylinder.

What is claimed is:

1. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the baseand pile-forming yarn-s, elements projectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, movements of pile yarn-engaging portions of said elements in the direction opposite that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to act on said pile-forming yarn only to effect the formation of elongated pile loops. 7

2. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, elements projectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn through previously formed fabric loops to form stitches, movements of pile yarn engaging portions of said elements in the same direction as that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn.

3. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, elements projectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, movements of pile yarn-engaging portions of said elements in the direction opposite that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to effect the formation of elongated pile loops, and said means then producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn through previously formed fabric loops to form stitches, movements of pile yarn engaging portions of said elements in the same direction as that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn.

4. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, elements mounted for tilting movements and projectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, tilting movements of pile yarn-engaging portions of said elements in the direction opposite that of move ment of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to act on said pile-forming yam only to eifect the formation of elongated pile loops.

5. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, elements mounted for tilting movements and pro jectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn through previously formed fabric loops to form stitches, tilting movements of pile yarn engaging portions of said elements in the same direction as that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn.

6. In a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles along a path spaced from that of said base yarn, means for elfecting longitudinal movements of the needles to draw and form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, elements mounted for tilting movements and projectible between needles to engage and hold bights of said pile-forming yarn without engaging said base yarn, and means for controlling movements of said elements, said last means producing, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, tilting movements of pile yarn-engaging portions of said elements in the direction opposite that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to effect the formation of elongated pile loops, and said means then producing, while, and at the location, where, the pileforming yarn is being drawn through previously formed fabric loops to form stitches, tilting movements of pile yarn engaging portions of said elements in the same direction as that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn.

7 I 'he method of knitting a pile fabric on a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles, and means for effecting longitudinal movements of the needles to form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, said method including the step of drawing bights of the pile-forming yarn between the needles, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, in the direction opposite to that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to effect rapid formation of elongated pile loops.

8. The method of knitting a pile fabric on a circular knitting machine having independent needles, means for feeding a base yarn to the needles, means for feeding a pile-forming yarn to the needles, and means for eiiecting longitudinal movements of the needles to form stitches of both the base and pile-forming yarns, said method including the step of drawing bights of the pile-forming yarn between the needles, while, and at the location where, the pile-forming yarn is being drawn by the needles, in the direction opposite that of movement of the needles in drawing yarn, thereby to efiect rapid formation of elongated pile loops, and the subsequent step of relieving tension on said bights of pile-forming yarn while, and at the location where the pile-forming yarn is being drawn through previously formed fabric loops to form stitches.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 409,856 Murby Aug. 27, 1889 656,535 Fisher Aug. 21, 1900 1,539,568 Houseman May 26, 1925 2,231,399 Thurston Feb. 11, 1941 2,276,705 Smith Mar. 17, 1942 2,450,376 Holmes Sept. 28, 1948 FOREIGN PATENTS 9,700 Great Britain of 1908 

